


bleeding heart

by angstandcaffeine



Category: Dumb Kids Playing Hero (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, spoilers for all of season one!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28841847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstandcaffeine/pseuds/angstandcaffeine
Summary: Benny begins preparations.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	bleeding heart

The easiest place to start is the freezers.

Benny peers in the window of the left door, the original one. It looks the same as it has since the last time Constance was in there, an empty metal room with a folding chair. It’s been knocked over, whether from the rocking of the waves or his sister’s struggle, he’s not sure. He opens the heavy door to right the chair, moving as quick as he can. It takes maybe ten seconds, but every second he’s back in here feels like an eternity. He shuts the door behind him and instinctively locks it. For a second, he thinks he’s going to vomit. He leans against the door, cold metal on his back, grounding him until he’s ready for the next one.

The second freezer is simple enough to deal with. It’s already been turned off, and Benny has the example door to work off of. The fact that the interior is reversed also helps— fans on the left instead of the right helps remind him that this is a different room, this isn’t where Candace was, she isn’t here anymore. With a bit of time and effort, he reverse engineers how Dante rigged the lock. He knows, gut sinking as he works, that he’s much slower at this than they would be, if Dante was—

The final piece clunks into place, shaking the metal in his hands. Benny takes a deep breath, and walks around the corner to grab another folding chair. The chair catches on the lip of the doorway as he drags it behind him into the freezer, popping up and hitting him in the ankle. “Shit,” he hisses, momentarily frozen. He puts the chair in place, alone in the center of the metal box, and bends down to rub the injury. It shouldn’t bruise, but it sure fucking stings. He examines the lip, realizing that he hadn’t registered it before.  _ This one can’t be Kel’s,  _ he notes.

“Benny?” Max calls from down the hall. “You good?”

He shakes his head to clear his mind and leaves the freezer. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Okay, just checking.” Max rounds the corner and looks him up and down, a hint of what Benny hopes isn’t judgment on his face. Benny knows he probably looks like shit, but putting outfits together and washing his face hasn’t exactly been the priority lately. Max looks worse for wear too, dark circles under his eyes that make him look even more like Jude. “Do you need any help with… You know...” Max trails off, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the floor.

“No, I don’t need help, thank you.”

“Okay.”

They stand in silence for a moment, not quite tense but certainly not peaceful. “Did you get your battle morphs yet?” Benny asks.

“No, uh, Hunter and I are going tonight.”

“Okay, good.”

“How did you get out?” Max suddenly asks, looking up from the floor to stare him in the eyes.

“Out of the zoo? We just—”

“No. Out of the mission, away from the yeerks. How come you were the only one who got out?” Max’s gaze has hurt and disbelief in equal measures, tears building.

Benny swallows. “I got lucky. Happened to be the last one in the elevator. The others— we were surrounded.” 

“So it was just a fluke, then. Nobody else could have gotten away?”

The truth burns in Benny’s chest, threatening to come out his mouth, but he shoves it down, opting instead to close the gap between him and Max. He puts a hand on Max’s shoulder and summons his best reassuring face. “We’re gonna get them back. It’s gonna be okay. Jude is tough, he’ll be fine.”

It’s not a lie, not explicitly, but Benny can hear Adrian going off about omission in his head anyways. 

“You don’t know that.” Max’s voice breaks. He pushes his glasses up to press his hands over his eyes, keeping himself from crying. “God, it was so— it was awful, being there, and I never wanted Jude to have to through that, and now he is, and we’re stuck down here, and—”

“Listen. We’re not stuck. We are free, and that means we can help them. Okay?”

He takes a few shaky breaths. “You’re right,” Max eventually says. “You’re right. And you have a plan, and we’re going to save them.”

Benny doesn’t have a plan, not yet, but he smiles anyway. “Exactly.” 

Max smiles back, and relief surges through Benny’s chest. Guilt, too, but the relief is loud enough to cover it up. “Okay. I’m gonna let you work on that then. But really, if you need help—”

“You’ll be my first call.” Max nods and walks away.

Benny’s shoulders slump a little as he turns the opposite corner.  _ Liar,  _ rings Adrian’s voice in his ears.

The rest of the afternoon and the next day are filled with rooms three, four, and five. Filled with furniture and boxes and debris from his friends, they take much more effort to clean out. Ariel’s left one of her physics textbooks here, a marked up copy with highlights and doodles in the margins. Benny carefully sets it aside. He’ll make sure it gets back to her. Despite the new apartment, a bunch of Kel's equipment is still here, tangled in with Dante's set up. He unplugs everything cautiously, half-afraid one of them left it booby-trapped and completely afraid that he'll break something important without noticing.

He drags tables, chairs, and beds out and piles them all in the less-than-large dining area. It’s heavy lifting and Benny is grateful for it. The ache in his muscles is proof that he’s doing  _ something,  _ that he’s not completely useless. And of course, the work gives him something to do while he thinks. His mind is critical, judging his resources with a sharp eye. Hunter is certainly useful, whether he turns out to be a natural at morphing or not, two Hork-Bajir are always an advantage, and with the right guidance, Max’s emotions can certainly be an asset for him. The problem isn’t what he has, it’s how much is unknown.

(The other problem, Benny thinks later as he lays in bed at night, staring at the ceiling for hours, is that it’s so easy for him to think of people as resources and his friends as his prisoners, but that problem will have to wait to be solved. He doesn’t know how to bring them home without this cutthroat persona, this sharpest version of himself.

God, he wishes desperately for this to be a persona.)

When the rooms are empty, he examines them closely. Anything that could be an escape route is closed off: vents, windows, even the electrical sockets. And then he’s done. Five cells for five alien-possessed friends. It’s planning for the worst, he knows, but he doesn’t see a fucking point in planning for things to go well. At the very least, it would mean five less yeerks in the galaxy. The rest of the plan begins to take shape in Benny’s mind. It’ll have to be loose, much looser than he wants it to be, but goddamn it, no matter the cost, he’s going to get his friends home. He needs to— he needs  _ them _ , surer than he’s ever been that he needs them.

**Author's Note:**

> benny la fontaine i care you.... fully ready for season two to kick my ass
> 
> im on twitter @angstcaffeine if you wanna say hi!!


End file.
